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Arrajan Castle
'''Arrajan '''was a castle, city and a province in southwestern Persia on the border between Ḵūzestān and Fārs. Medieval sources give us alternative names for Arraǰān Rām-Qobāḏ, Berām-Qobāḏ, Abar-Qobāḏ and Beh az Āmed-e Kavāḏ. The city and castle was held by the Hashashin during the Middle Ages. History Hundreds of years before the Hashashin took hold of Arrajan, it was a center of linen production (together with the towns of Jannāba and Rīšahr, that belonged to the province of Arraǰān); in this trade the people from the Amida region were considered to be experts. Blessed by nature with fertile soil and bountiful supplies of water, the province of Arraǰān achieved considerable prosperity in a time of peace and stability. Owing to its position, it was inevitably affected by events in lower Mesopotamia and southern Persia. Local agriculture produced goods for export in the form of date- and grape-syrup, olive oil, soap, and, above all, cloth of diverse kinds. Other agricultural products were dates, cactus figs, corn, nuts, olives, oranges, grapes, and lemons. There were all the necessary ingredients to available for the defense and expansion of Ismaili ideas. In the past, the Ismailis have been quite successful in spreading their doctrines in this land and from this base to the surrounding areas. It has already been said that Hassan-i Sabbah had visited this area several times during his earlier travels and must have made contacts and enlisted support for his cause. The Assassin leader of this area was Abu Hamza Kafshger (shoemaker). He seized two castles in the vicinity of Arrajan and used them as a base for further expansion for the Hashashin, thus adding another province to the Assassin State with its center in Alamut. Years later, a new Da'i would take Kahfshger's place. His name was Attash. He sent letters to the Sultan that requested protection. Hassan-i Sabbah had written to Malik Shah in the same vein in the past, claiming that the Abbasids and Nizam al-Mulk had misrepresented him and his followers. It was of course this correspondence that led to the rumors of Malik Shah having, at the very least condoned, if not actually have arranged, the assassination of Nizam al-Mulk. Attash obviously wished to create the same sort of confusion and mutual suspicion at the court of the current Sultan, Muhammad, as Hassan-i Sabbah's letters had at Malik Shah's. Sultan Mohamed's advisers treated the note seriously and spent weeks debating it. When the debate had finally run its course, they decided that the destruction of the heretical cult was acceptable. Doubtless, the fact that an Assassin very nearly took the life of one of the Sultan's senior emirs during the deliberations also encouraged their decision to make war on Attash. Attash then started on a new stalling tactic. He offered to withdraw from spreading propaganda in Isfahan, but demanded another fortress further away, citing the massacres of the Nizaris in the 1090's as his need for a safe haven. This was agreed to and arrangements were made for the Nizaris to be allowed to go to Alamut and to another stronghold in the southern Zargos Mountains. Ismailis had been living relatively peacefully there since 1092, when Da'i Abu Hamza Kafshger secured the area for Hassan-i Sabbah's cult by obtaining the fortress of Arrajan. The party for Arrajan left and arrived safely at their home, but then Attash and the remaining Hashashin broke the accord and decided on resistance. He concentrated all his efforts on defending one wing of the castle, but having only eighteen men meant he still had to leave one wall undefended, with only spears and shields propped up against the battlements as a somewhat hopeful ruse against an attack on that part of the castle. It was soon pointed out to the Sultan that one part of the ramparts was suspiciously quiet and the Seljuqs soon broke in through the undefended sector. There was a general slaughter of the garrison, although it was ahrd to see how it could have been otherwise, as Assassins almost always fought to the death. Attash's wife, completed the horror show by flinging herself from the high ramparts on to the stony ground below in fear of being enslaved or worse. Attash himself was captured and after being shown living to the populace of Ishahan, he was flayed alive. His skin was then stuffed with straw, presumably so that his body would not rot too badly as it was sent on tour around the cities of Persia while his head traveled to Baghdad. As he was being stretched out to be flayed, a member of the crowd mockingly called out that astrology - the understanding of which all Assassin masters were supposed to be adept - had surely not predicted this end. Attash is said to have replied that he had, through the starts, portended a ceremonial parade through the streets of Isfahan for himself, but not of this kind... Sultan Mohamed instructed his brother Sanjar in the east to begin attacks on the Assassin strongholds in his lands. In the west, Arrajan fell to Sultan Mohamed. Architecture To the south stand the remains of a Sasanian combined bridge and dam structure. Near the bridge, above the southern bank of the Kordestān river was the castle. The city had six gates. Its buildings were constructed of ashlar, and houses had cool summer apartments below ground level. Roughly in the center of the city stood the "Great Mosque", erected between 694 and 714. Beside it was the bazaar. An administrative building is also mentioned mentioned in historical sources. Subterranean canals supplied water to every house in the town. In general, Arraǰān is depicted as a large and beautiful city. Its climate was considered hot but tolerable. In 1052 it allegedly had 20,000 male inhabitants and ranked among the greatest cities of Fārs. Category:Central Castles Category:Persian Castles